The time has arrived ladies and gentlemen. The judges of the Etisalat Prize for Literature 2015 were announced and now they are waiting for the books to judge. The organising committee of the awards now in their third year has made a call out for debut novels from African writers. So if you are African you have a chance to win some good cash. If you win, you will join what is starting to become a very serious list of winners, Songeziwe Mahlangu (2014) and Noviolet Bulawayo (2013).
As mentioned in a previous post, the judging panel this year will be Prof Ato Quayson a Professor of English and inaugural Director of the Centre for Diaspora Studies at the University of Toronto who will chair, writer, blogger, journalist, critic, and editor Molara Wood and Zukiswa Wanner the author of The Madams, Behind Every Successful Man, Men of the South and London Cape Town Joburg. Their job is to submit a long list of nine novels as well as a shortlist of three novels before finally selecting a winner.
Submission of entries opened on Saturday, June 18, 2015, and would close on the 27th of August 2015. So what do you get if you win it?
- A cash prize of £15,000
- A fellowship at the prestigious University of East Anglia under the mentorship of the award-winning author, Professor Giles Foden.
- A sponsored three-city book tour while the two other shortlisted writers will receive a sponsored two-city book tour to promote their books.
- 1000 copies of the shortlisted books will be bought for distribution within the continent.
Not bad eh? If you want in then your publisher should submit your first work of fiction over 30,000 words, and published within the last 24 months.
You can read more about how to get your mitts on the cash at prize.etisalat.com.ng
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